Despite rain, protesters, Macy's parade goes off as planned
A rain-soaked Snoopy, a sopping SpongeBob SquarePants, a drenched Pillsbury Doughboy and thousands of soaked paradegoers came to celebrate Thursday morning at the 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was disrupted for the second straight year by pro-Palestinian protesters who briefly blocked the route and were arrested.
With a Ronald McDonald balloon hovering nearby, about 25 of the protesters jumped into the route, about an hour into the parade, at Sixth Avenue and 55th Street, chanted and unfurled Palestinian flags and a banner: "DON’T CELEBRATE GENOCIDE!" and "ARMS EMBARGO NOW!"
There were "multiple" arrests, which were still being processed as of noon, according to an NYPD spokesman. Video of the scene shows fellow paradegoers cheering as officers detained the group.
Last year, several demonstrators protesting the same cause — deaths of thousands in Gaza — glued themselves to the street and were arrested once a specialized NYPD unit unglued them.
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said the police would "be on top of those who attempt to interrupt the parade in any way possible." Adams called such disrupters "grinches."
Hundreds of cops, including those with the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, whose mission includes combating disruptive protests, patrolled the parade.
The parade largely went off without disruption, with families, children and others from around the world gathering along the route, West 77th Street and Central Park West to Macy's at Herald Square, in good cheer.
Marching bands performed. Twirlers twirled. Celebrities waved. Christmas carols were sung. Balloons and floats made their way downtown.
"Grimace! Grimace!" paradegoers shouted as the McDonaldland fantasyworld character waddled by on a big red shoe.
Best friends Harper Pepe and Lillian Pyes, both fifth graders, 10 years old and from Babylon, were in ponchos and camp chairs along Sixth Avenue.
"I love the big floats and all the things, the Minion, the Minnie Mouse and the floats and the balloons — I love ’em all," Harper said.
Was she comfortable in the rain?
"Yeah!" she said at first, before editing her answer. "Kind of," she said, before settling on, "not that comfortable."
Lillian, who was awaiting Snoopy, said: "It’s fine, but it’s very wet."
Sixth grader Carter Neal, age 11, of Jamaica, Queens, was attending his first parade, before going to his grandma’s house for Thanksgiving in New Jersey.
His enthusiasm for the parade was undeterred by the rain, cheering for characters like the exuberant heeler puppy Bluey, from the animated series.
"So far, I want to go back next year for this, because I actually like being here. I remember, I used to always watch this on TV, I was just so excited to see it on TV, but now I’m actually here to see the real thing!"
The parade has been America's most-watched entertainment program in the past three years, according to The New York Times.
James Kessler, of Oyster Bay, a Presbyterian minister at the North Shore Community Church, was watching from the stretch of the east side of Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 45th streets. The area is reserved, as at other high-profile events, for people connected to the NYPD and others who work for agencies such as the FDNY, including their friends and family.
"We have a friend in the NYPD that saved us a spot, so we came to see it," said Kessler, with his daughter, Emmaline Kessler, a 12-year-old sixth grader. It’s her first time at the parade.
"There’s big floats, and a lot of people," Emmaline said.
"And you liked seeing the Minion, too," he said.
"Yeah," she said.
Father and daughter were watching in the rain. Her sister and mom were drier, beneath an enclosed subway entrance.
Amanda Williamson, 18, of Seaford who goes to college in North Carolina, makes an annual pilgrimage to the parade with family. She’s been coming for nearly a dozen years and relishes spotting some of the same characters as in past years.
"I think it’s special that there’s still a big turnout even with the rain," she said. "I think it makes it more welcoming."
Williamson said she was looking forward to turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes — "everything."
"My mom’s cooking right now," she said. "We’re gonna go back to the house, probably take a nap, and then eat."
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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